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ABOUT US AND OUR TEAM

WHY DOES THE STREET SOCCER FOUNDATION EXIST?

In today’s society, everybody should have a place to live. But – more young people across England and Wales are becoming homeless with the situation getting worse.

Homelessness among young people in particular, is a major social problem:

  • 1 in 200 people in England are today now homeless or living in inadequate housing
  • Rough sleeping has risen by 169% since 2010
  • In the last year, 320,000 people were recorded as homeless in Britain: a rise of 13,000 (or 4%), on last year's figures. This is equivalent to 36 new people becoming homeless every day.

(All statistics courtesy of Shelter)

Young people (aged below 25) with experiences of homelessness are one of the most vulnerable groups in our society. Often a core reason for becoming homeless is a relationship breakdown which can stem from being long-term unemployed: 49% of cases have been reported where the primary cause of youth homelessness is a family breakdown; and 44% of these cases have shown these young people not being in Work, Education or Training (NEETS).

Homelessness is an isolating and destructive experience. Which is why The Street Soccer Foundation exists. To help see an end to youth homelessness and youth unemployment across England - through partnerships and collaborations and using the number 1 sport in the world: the power of football.

Back in 2016, our Street Soccer Academy run in partnership with West Ham United was featured on the world-renowned ‘Match of the Day’ TV show on BBC1. The video here features young Jodie, who came onto our course as a 19-year old living in temporary sheltered accommodation. Completing the course, Jodie interviewed with the BBC, and went on to be successfully selected to represent England at the Homeless World Cup in Glasgow later that year. Jodie is now a Young Ambassador for the Foundation.

Our Street Soccer Academy and School programs unite people from all different kinds of backgrounds. Through football, individuals come together to support a greater sense of well-being within their local community. Helping people to realise their true potential.

ABOUT OUR FOUNDER

Keith is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur and business leader recognised by the Centre for Entrepreneurs (CfE) and The Sunday Times as one of the UK’s most successful Businessmen supporting the next generation. In his younger days, Keith played for Millwall, Gillingham and Charlton Athletic but never quite made the grade to become a full-time professional footballer. Keith formed The Street Soccer Foundation in 2015 after learning of Homelessness statistics across England. He wanted to help the situation to benefit local communities and make a difference in young people’s lives knowing the power of football. After receiving (non-financial) support from the PFA and securing an initial delivery partnership with a Premier League Football Club, the Street Soccer Foundation was up and running and hasn't looked back since.

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Keith Mabbutt, Founder & CEO

OUR STREET SOCCER UTD TEAM

The Street Soccer Foundation Leadership team is comprised of true leaders in their own right who have all come together for the same purpose: to make a difference. This is the same for all the Street Soccer Foundation family: our very own 'Street Soccer United'. As a collective, the team represent a mixture of Business Leaders, Consultants, Coaches, Volunteers and Mentors - all who understand our 'why' - why we do what we do at the Foundation.

Click on any of our team members to learn more about them and what they do outside of the Foundation, and why they support us in the manner they do.

Street Soccer Utd Leadership

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Keith Mabbutt, CEO

As Founder & CEO, Keith leads by example and oversees both the delivery of the Academy programmes and the overall growth and development of the Foundation.

“Ultimately, The Street Soccer Foundation is a non-profit charitable partnership. A collective of game-changing minds all committed to wanting to help end youth unemployment and homelessness in this Country and to inspire the next generation to believe in themselves to affect the best possible outcomes”.

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Adam Lawrence, COO

Adam has developed great experience within the education & training and charity sectors, having previously held roles as the Chief Executive Officer of Gillingham Football Club Community Trust, as well as delivering education at professional football clubs as a qualified teacher.

Having previously gained a degree in Sports Development and Coaching Sciences at Bournemouth University and later completing a PGCE in Secondary Education, Adam has a track record of developing unique education and training provisions for groups across the South East.

A qualified PE teacher, Adam also has good experience and understanding of schools, and of delivering sports sessions and projects to young people.

“The Street Soccer Foundation has such passion to support vulnerable people through sport. I am honoured to be a part of the team, which strives daily to develop innovative and unique projects to help others.”

Kevin Tewis
Kevin Tewis-Allen, CMO

A visionary entrepreneurial commercial marketing strategist who leads with game changing ideas from concept to delivery. Most famed for his work towards the Gen-Z audience in entertainment, creative agency and professional services but also millennials through his work with Facebook and UNILAD.

“My aim has always been to be a strong change agent, to cut through the noise, positively disrupt markets in order to create sustainable, LOVED challenger brands. My ethos is that It’s not about being first anymore, it’s about being the best on a regular basis.”

Ash Lawrence
Ash Lawrence, Mindset & Mentoring Head Coach

Ash has a PhD in Business and Sports Psychology and Philosophy. He helps various elite sports and business people overcome limiting thought patterns that prevent them performing at the very highest level. A fully qualified NLP Master Practitioner and graduate of The Masterclass of Corporate Coaching from The Coaching Academy, he has been trained by some of the leading NLP trainers in the world including John Seymour, Paul McKenna and Dr Richard Bandler. Ash is also a fully qualified Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (CBT) and specialises in Mindset re-programming for life success. Ash works with numerous professional footballers both in the Premier League and EFL and a number of elite sportsmen and women across a variety of other sports including Cricket, Swimming, Athletics, Golf and Tennis. “The Street Soccer Foundation is providing a much needed service to young homeless people. Football is a fantastic way to get young people back into stable housing and full-time employment and we’re achieving on doing just that.”

Kay
Kay Skelton, Head of Community
Kay has vast experience working across all levels of the football pyramid and supports the Foundation in the role of Head of Community. With a natural ability to engage with Schools, Colleges, young people and the Business Community, Kay oversees localised delivery of the Academy ensuring that each programme attracts sufficient support and involvement from various stakeholders.
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Laurence Hayes, FD

Laurence has more than 20 years’ corporate finance and fund management experience advising on transactions with a total value in excess of £15 billion.

He is also a comedy novelist, researcher in Artificial Intelligence at Imperial College London, and founding alumnus of Google's Singularity University at NASA Ames Research Center.

“Once Keith formed The Street Soccer Foundation and told me as to why he had done so I immediately wanted to support him. The work of the Foundation is crucial to give disadvantaged young people a supporting hand to develop and create a better future for themselves.”

Street Soccer Utd Key Players

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Paul Stewart, Club Liaison Officer & National Ambassador

Paul Stewart is an English former professional footballer who played top flight football for Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, and was capped three times at senior level for England. Having started his professional career at Blackpool, Paul was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Bloomfield Road when it was officially opened by former Blackpool player Jimmy Armfield in April 2006. In November 2016, Paul came forward as a victim of child sexual and physical abuse when he played at youth level. He released his autobiography in September 2017, ‘Damaged’ – Paul Stewart, My Story. Paul is an Ambassador for The Street Soccer Foundation and leads on our Club liaison with partnering football clubs delivering our programmes nationwide.

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Neil Dickson, CTO

Whilst I was at school my teacher told my mother that I was very "creative and imaginative", but the way they said it was with a sort of upward inflection on the sentence that almost made it sound like a bad thing. It was that creativity and imagination that I decided to funnel into my future career as a time travelling ninja vampire hunter.

I also found it useful for my career in marketing and design. I managed to complete 2 degrees one in design (specialising in web design) and one in fine art illustration. Uni was where I met Carrie and after a short while we both decided that working for other people sucked so we started our own company.

We wanted to do things our own way, we wanted to help people and to enjoy life and hopefully get our clients to enjoy working with us. It didn’t matter that we’d have to do that from a room over my parents garage with no heating.

We pretty much had no idea how to run a company so Carrie kept her day job a little longer an I spent every waking moment reading and researching. I'd figured out enough to get us going so it was time to cut the safety line, Carrie left her day job. The company was born and we continued to read and research. We've spent time with mentors and experts and marketing specialists and we're still looking for more. We'll never be finished with learning how to do things better but we like to think we're doing well.

It’s fair to say we’ve had some success with our business we’ve worked with various companies charities and organisations of all sizes from small business with just one person in them to worldwide brands like ITV’s “I’m a celebrity get me out of here”. Some of our clients have even told us that they’ve picked up celebrity clients of their own since they started working with us though we’re swore to secrecy as to who those celebs are.

A couple of years ago we asked my sister Alicia to join us in the company and Clockwork Moggy is, at the time of writing this, in its 9th year and going strong. We all love working for ourselves and pushing the business. So why do we call ourselves Clockwork Moggy? I know you wanted to ask. It portrays the two things we think are really important to our business, Friendly customer service and efficient time keeping.

Nina Sawetz
Nina Sawetz, PR & Media Enquiries
Having set up her first business at 18, Nina is Founder and MD of Future, and one of the UK’s most successful PR consultants. Launched in 2017, Future manages national and global publicity for CEOs and brands with turnovers of £5M - £100M+. The agency raises the corporate profiles of entrepreneurs and business leaders, turns CEOs into influencers, establishes brand credibility to earn consumer trust, and manages launch campaigns to improve sales. Nina has worked with the likes of Joanna Jensen (CEO, Childs Farm), Paul Aitken (CEO, Borro), Jim McCarthy (CEO, Poundland), Martin Forbes (CEO, Cox Automotive), Phil Jones (MD, Motors.co.uk), Steve Moore (CEO, Flight Club), David Kosky & Elliot Gold (Co-Founders, Work.Life), Matthew Sanders (CEO, Zoek) and Keith Poole (MD, Suits Me), as well as Goodyear Tyres (UK&I/EMEA) and AXA PPP healthcare. In 2018 Nina won WeWork's Mission Possible entrepreneur programme, and has been shortlisted as UK Entrepreneur of the Year at the DEA Awards. For any media enquiries, please contact +44 (0)7387 171582 or email nina@thisisfuture.co.uk.
Andrew Norton
Andrew Norton, Academy Coach & Tutor
A 1st class honours graduate from the University of Kent, Andrew has spent the past 6 years working extensively across multiple sports/exercise disciplines in strength and conditioning, football coaching and sports massage, having qualified in all of the above fields. A keen interest to detail and intrigue to learn more has seen Andrew seize upon every opportunity that he has been presented with at Street Soccer. I support the Street Soccer Foundation because it gives me the opportunity to impart the knowledge I’ve learnt to people who want to make a difference and do something they enjoy.
Marc Kentsley
Marc Kentsley, School Coach & Tutor
Marc is a fully qualified Football Coach and has a true passion for helping people and seeing children and young adults develop and grow. It’s a huge part of who he is. Marc is particularly keen on supporting young people who come from low income families to help them gain access into Grassroots sport. A huge Charlton Athletic fan, he is a season ticket holder and regularly attends Home games.
Joe
Joe Bennett, Social Media Manager
With a degree in Psychology, Joe always has what the customer is thinking in the back of his head while he is optimizing for search engines and creating engaging content, and is often found engrossed in SEO podcasts and YouTube videos! Working alongside Karl Cowell, Joe is the partner at JK Online. Together with Karl, both have years’ of experience and is delighted to be able to support The Street Soccer Foundation, taking charge of the social media management across all platforms and channels.
Karl
Karl Cowell, Social Media Manager
Karl has 7 years’ experience in Social and Events Management. Creating social content and graphics in the nightlife industry, Karl has turned his artistic flair to websites having launched his own company in partnership with Joe Bennett. Karl has also wrote for the Metro Online. His company, JK Online, are online specialists located in Kent providing affordable websites for those starting up in business or looking for a refresh. They have years of experience in a host of industries but love coming up with creative content for any market. www.wearejk.co.uk. Karl now leads on all the social media management across all platforms and channels for and on behalf of the Foundation.
Freddie Wilson
Freddie Wilson, School Coach & Tutor
A highly experienced professional and semi-professional footballer, coach, manager & all things post 16 education with a passion for coaching and development. Experience with mentoring and coaching at community and elite level and managing an Apprenticeship programme with £1m worth of income mentoring young coaches to be able to support the delivery of PE and School Sport. Possesses excellent interpersonal, communication and negotiation skills and the ability to maintain relationships and levels of excellent performance with players and coaches. Enjoys being part of, as well as managing, motivating and training, a successful and productive team and thrives in professional and highly pressurised environments.
Chris Newberry
Chris Newberry, Head of Digital
Chris has over 20 years’ experience in professional film and video production. From corporates and commercials through to narrative films. He loves creativity and how it can help deliver a message. He is the Managing Director of Wildwood Media, a full service production house, which works with clients nationwide producing original content for web, internal and external uses. He produces classic corporates, animation, 'outside-the-box' ideas, aerial filming and photography and 360 video. Chris has a strong focus on CSR and organisations, charities and companies that are trying to help people and make the world a better place. “This is why we are delighted to be working with The Street Soccer Foundation.”

HELP US AND GET INVOLVED WITH THE STREET SOCCER FOUNDATION

Like football, it’s a team game. The Street Soccer Foundation is a national partnership-led social project. We count on the support of local employers across the Country from various different sectors; business professionals and the general public; and football fans in general to team up with us to make a genuine impact for the benefit of vulnerable and homeless young people in communities nationwide.

We’re always happy to hear from individuals who have key strengths they can bring to the team along with a passion for helping others. And with the help of our valued Official Supporters, we continue to change lives.

GET INVOLVED AND BECOME A SUPPORTER

If you’d like to get involved and help support your local community please get in touch with us via the Contact page.

Together, CHANGING LIVES THROUGH FOOTBALL.